Just in case you had missed her, Fi, over at Kiwifruit (see link to the left …) is back in blog land after getting caught up in the mblog melt down. Go on… click over there and say Hey!

It’s Saturday and I am sitting on the sofa (not bed blogging today) after having taken a dose of Hollywood Romance (Notting Hill). Now that the telly is off it is quiet in my living room.

Well, actually if you think about it, quiet is relative. As it is…

1. I can hear Bliss turn the pages of the Weekend Magazine section of the SMH
2. I can hear the traffic negotiating the hill down to the Manly waterfront and across the bridge to the lagoon.
3. I can hear the wind blow our door, the one with loose glass so it has a very distinctive rattle.
4. I can hear my fingers tapping over the keys with lightning speed (and the regular hesitation as I avail myself of the back space key – lighting speed is notorious with a lack of accuracy).
5. I can hear the lorikeets as they do the daily rounds of their various chosen local feeding stations (not my place any more… too noisy).
6. I can vaguely hear the roar of the waves at the beach. Quite possibly my favourite local noise.

Surprisingly given the close proximity if the neighbours …

1. I can’t hear any stereos blasting Saturday morning cleaning music.
2. I can’t hear any lawn mowing.
3. I can’t hear any drilling or hammering. This is very unusual, we live in a large apartment block and at least one unit is being renovated at any one time…

So, without the neighbours, and with the uncanny ability to filter out traffic noise, I am enjoying a [relatively] quiet day at home.

Have a great weekend!

I had a 2 hour lunch today. We have a tradition at work when a person is leaving; the company pays for lunch out with their team or chosen friends (limited # of course…). It is a great way to mark the end of their era and to thank them for their contribution to the team. Not to mention a great excuse to skip 2 hours or so at the desk… This time it was DJ (yes, short for disk jockey) who was the guest of honour… a friend of mine and a member of the old team in the bully boss’ regime.

Anyway, DJ’s leaving will create a gap that no one else will be able to fill for me and I am almost a little embarrassed to admit what it is that will make me smile every-time I think of his time in our organization… I am going to anyway – dignity is much overrated in the blog world… as you may already know…

To preface the rest of the story you should know something about me…

There are some things that guys (or girls) do that just turn you inside out, right? Regardless of how attractive they are (or aren’t) – if they can do that one thing that will make you blush or speechless everything else is irrelevant? Ok maybe it’s just me but if a guy can do that cheeky look with one raised eyebrow he could ask anything of me and I would be almost powerless to refuse… (make of that what you will… maybe I am just plain weird…)

Anyway… back to the story. DJ knows how do to the one eyebrow thing and he knows what it does to me… And he uses it to disconcert me at the most inopportune times… Like the other day – he made me swear (I actually said the f word .. not a normal occurrence either) in the middle of the office… where I am surrounded by good Christian people who sucked the air out of the room right there and then! It caused him much mirth and me much embarrassment…

Now… don’t get all sanctimonious… DJ is a married man and his wife is a good friend of mine, a great friend and her relationship is in no doubt because of this little drama. It just became a long running joke one I had absolutely no answer for…

So he is leaving and I will live a lot less close to the edge wondering if in a meeting or gathering of team or congregation members he will pull out his party trick and leave me with a train of thought long gone off the rails…

Actually, I am only almost relieved… The edge is better than boring right?

So, here’s to you DJ! May the new thing be the best thing for you and the family. I’m looking forward to the odd beer and barbeque at the new place – but please, do us all a favour and keep your cap low over your brow…

Well, here I am… back in the Big Smoke and while glad to be home I am disappointed to have left Canberra after such a short visit.

Canberra is a very cool place actually. It has a bit of a bad rap because of all the governmental and bureaucratic type of palaver that goes on down there but there is a really relaxed feel about it and the roads are wide and clear and there is lots of green. And lots of flowers which were gorgeous even though very heavy on tulips this year. This was largely due to the drought, apparently it is usually a lot bigger with a lot of variety in the flower department. Still, it was a particularly impressive display and massive even if the aforementioned smaller than last time. As soon as the pix are ready I will slip a few in here to show them off… (if, of course, they are worth it…) (and Ian, I am happy to report no unfortunate vomiting type incidents…).

So, back to work tomorrow. Our helpdesk dude is away for the day… uh oh, I am helping hold the fort… supreme potentate of html is one thing… deputy commander of the helpdesk is totally another kettle of fish… Fortunately, Monday is quiet day because all the pastoral types have the day off… (and notoriously they place the biggest demand on helpdesk resources being pastoral types and generally not particularly technically and electronically minded….)